


RWBY Loops

by Leviticus_Wilkes



Category: RWBY
Genre: AU, Conspiracy, Drama, Gen, Groundhog Day Loop, Humor, Time Travel, infinite loops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-02 14:51:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5252309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leviticus_Wilkes/pseuds/Leviticus_Wilkes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Stuck repeating everyday? Bored out of your mind? With only your friends along for the ride? Why, it's just like school! Of course, the Infinite Loops are a lot more fun then Beacon Academy, as Ruby Rose is about to find out. Part of the Infinite Loops project.</p>
            </blockquote>





	RWBY Loops

**1.1**

* * *

"Are you... Mugging me again?"

"Again? Whaddya mean you little brat? I've never seen you in my life! And yeah, I'm robbing you."

Ruby Rose took her headphones off and stared at the guy who was threatening her. Wasn't he the guy who had tried to rob her in the Dust Shop... and why was she in From Dust Till Dawn again?

"So turn out your pockets and-"

Ruby launched herself and the thug out of the window, knocking him out. "Alright... let's see... I have Crescent Rose. I'm in Vale and-"

"Well, get her." Ruby turned to see three more thugs leaving the building, at the behest of Roman Torchwick. Ruby smirked as she forewent analyzing her strange situation to thrash the trio that had the misfortune to go up against her. All three were down in mere seconds, with Ruby now facing Roman. The crime lord cocked an eyebrow. "Well you four were worth every penny, truly you were." Putting on his best 'I'm gonna kill you' smile, Roman addressed Ruby. "Well Red, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have better things to do."

Roman leveled his cane at Ruby and fired, only for Ruby to fire Crescent Rose down and backwards, launching herself  _at_  Roman. The crime lord reacted quickly though, bringing his cane up and blocking Ruby's attempt to soften her landing with his face. The red clad girl hit the tarmac and rolled back to her feet, near enough to Torchwick to bring her scythe's blade to bear. "You're coming with me Torchwick."

Roman circled slowly, not leaving Ruby's arc of attack or moving closer to engage, and not moving his cane from it's target. "You'd like to think that, now wouldn't you?" Roman smirked a little. "Huntress in training, right? Let me show you something about your job." Roman suddenly switched grip on his cane, the hooked end launching back and hooking onto the distant fire ladder. "You'll need to be faster!"

Ruby lunged, just barely missing Roman's coat as the crime lord hurtled backwards to the building. Ruby collapsed Crescent Rose, took aim, and fired, narrowly missing Roman as he repelled off the wall and over the lip of the building. Ruby took off after him, launching herself over the building with recoil.

On the roof, Roman had a hand over his mouth and was shouting rapidly into it. "We've got a huntress. Get me out of here!" The bullhorn, the enormous Gunship that had retrieved him before rose from the alleyway it had landed in. Ruby wasn't about to lose him though. "Oh no you don't!" Flipping Crescent Rose over, Ruby launched herself through the open door of the Bullhorn and into it's bulkhead. "Land this plane or I take it down!"

Roman gritted his teeth and stopped himself from shooting Ruby, having no intention of blowing the Bullhorn out of the air. Instead... "Cinder."

Ruby turned slowly, facing the pilot of the Bullhorn with grim prospects. The pilot stood, turned, and revealed herself to be...

The girl from Haven? "You?"

Ruby's inattention cost her. Cinder lashed out with a leg and knocked Crescent Rose out of the way, a blast of fire catching Ruby across her face and roasting her skin. Ruby screamed in fury and agony and tried to swing at Cinder, only to miss wildly as Cinder exploited her new-found lack of depth perception. A series of black glass bolts unbalanced Ruby, sending her stumbling around the bulkhead and nearly out of the open door. Outside, she could hear shouts. "Miss, get out of there, now! Just drop! Just-!"

Cinder formed a glass sword and ran Ruby through.

* * *

"Are you... Mugging me?" Ruby's hand shot to her chest, but found no wound. Her hand slowly ghosted to the left side of her face, but not a single mark could be felt. She could even see out of her left eye again!

"Yes. Now turn your pockets out and put your hands-"

Ruby, for what seemed like the second time that night, kicked the thug out of the window, unfolded Crescent Rose, and turned to glare at the gangsters and Roman who were staring at her. This was not going to be fun. For them at least.

* * *

"Her name is Cinder, she and Torchwick are working with the White Fang, and I'm telling you, we already had this conversation!"

"Miss Rose!" Glynda Goodwitch was feeling an enormous headache coming on. She had dropped by to stop a robbery by the infamous Aura-using crime lord Roman Torchwick, only to find that he and his gang had been thoroughly beaten by the fifteen-year-old in front of her. If it hasn't been for miss Rose's apparent skill, she would have been much more severe with her reprimanding. But then Ruby had started babbling about time travel and dying and flame witches and the coming year, all to the point of distraction. "Miss Rose, that is quite enough."

"But it's not enough! In five seconds Professor Ozpin's going to walk in with a plate of cookies and sweet talk me!"

Glynda spent a moment staring at Ruby, before staring at Ozpin, who had just walked in with a plate of cookies and milk. Ozpin pursed his lips and shrugged, simultaneously impressing and annoying Glynda. "I take it you already know who I am, Miss Rose?"

Ruby nodded vigorously. "You're professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. You're old friends with General James Ironwood, you know my uncle, you love Coffee, have a cane sword, you helped create the artificial Aura using android Penny, and your headmaster's chair looks like a gear dick."

Opzin and Glynda's jaws dropped. After a few seconds, Ozpin composed himself to turn to Glynda. "Does my chair look like a dick?"

Glynda blushed heavily and looked away. Ozpin gulped and made a mental note to replace his chair later. Addressing Ruby now: "Miss Rose, let's say... for a moment, that I ask for irrefutable proof that you're from the future. How would you answer?"

Ruby pursed her lips, worriedly thinking for a moment. "You... you did a personal background check on a girl named Blake Belladonna, who's enrolling this year. You know that's she's pretending to be human." Ruby gulped and waited.

Ozpin waved his hand gently. "And, miss Rose?"

Ruby sighed. ' _Sorry Blake._ ' Ruby looked Ozpin dead in the eye. "And you know she's former White Fang."

"WHAT!" Glynda nearly shouted. Ozpin nodded slightly and steepled his hands, only after making a small gesture to Glynda for silence.

Turning his attention to Ruby, Ozpin raised a finger. "Miss Rose, if you know this, then do you know what I am about to ask you?"

Ruby 'hmm'ed in though. "Uh... to come to Beacon?"

Ozpin nodded. "And in your original timeline, what did you say?"

"...Yes?"

"Welcome to Beacon miss Rose."

* * *

**1.2**

* * *

On the steps to Beacon Academy, right on her first day, Weiss Schnee realized that she had entered an entirely new world. A world of lunatics. A world of mad-women. A world...

Of Corgi's. "They don't allow pets on campus."

The girl she had bumped into, a young looking girl with a black combat skirt and a red cape, grinned maniacally. "This isn't my pet. This is my weapon."

Weiss cocked an eyebrow.

Red's grin widened. "What you see here may look like a cute corgi, but I see an opportunity, a weapon. Through careful training, precision preparation, and ample time investment, I've birthed a weapon henceforth unknown to man and Faunus. What you see... is the War Corgi."

Weiss stared blank-eyed at Red. "Uh..."

Red set her War Corgi on the ground, hooked him to his leash (which Weiss noticed ended with a sickle) and waved good bye. "Tootles." With that, Red walked away.

Weiss began to reevaluate why she chose to become a huntress.

* * *

Headmaster Ozpin was idly meandering around campus, looking busy, sipping coffee, procrastinating, when Glynda grabbed him by the ear and pulled him into a side hallway. "Ack! Gly-Glynda. I swear, I'll get the paperwork done tonight."

"You still haven't done your paperwork!" Glynda hissed in anger. She shook her head and poked Ozpin in the chest. "This  _isn't_  about your paperwork. It's about Miss Rose."

Ozpin sipped his coffee introspectively. "Glynda, I am aware that Ruby Rose is having a slightly... problematic transition period. But rest assured she will adapt to the new normality of her surroundings. She is, after all, only fifteen."

Glynda looked Ozpin straight in the eye and opened a door to the outside. In the small park outside, Ruby was holding her dog, Zwei, over a bed of flowers. Zwei was breathing fire at the flowers. "Burn in the righteous fire of the War Corgi."

Glynda closed the door and raised an eyebrow at Ozpin. Ozpin, in his capacity of answer, sipped his coffee. "Maybe... the transition period is taking a while."

* * *

Team JNPR and RWBY, sans Ruby, were seated at their customary lunch table, exchanging notes and bemoaning their friendship with Ruby. Now, usually it was beneficial to be friend with Ruby. She was capable, a brilliant fighter, and seemed to know everyone inside and out. But...

Zwei.

Zwei was there, standing on the table. Looking deceptively cute. Everyone was on edge. For a moment Jaune dropped his guard. A cannonball nearly took his head off. Jaune looked at Yang fearfully. "Did Zwei just..."

"Piss a cannonball?"

Jaune nodded.

Yang nodded back.

JNPR and RWBY knew they weren't in for a fun day.

"I say we put a hit on it. I know a few people who'd be happy to take care of Zwei."

But then again, it wasn't bad enough that anyone seriously took Blake's offer at face value.

* * *

Roman Torchwick laughed maniacally as he blasted Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong across the container yard, gleefully indulging his bloodlust. He aimed and fired again, giggling. At that moment, he heard something. A yip.

Roman looked down at the small dog that was standing next to him. "What the..."

Zwei lifted his leg and pissed on Roman. Believe it or not, this was just the beginning of Roman's humiliation. When the police did collect him later that evening, the scorched, battered, bruised, and somehow sopping yet crime lord almost welcomed them with open arms.

* * *

Ruby gently petted Zwei as the White Fang rally building went up in flames. "Good War Corgi."

* * *

**1.3**

* * *

On the airship to Beacon, Ruby looked over her list of 'things to do while time traveling'. "Okay, let's see here... Stop Roman and Cinder's nefarious schemes? Done it. Join White Fang? Been there, done that. Be appointed Headmistress of Beacon? Untenable. Get perfect grades and show up Weiss? Too mean. Change teams?"

Ruby lowered her check list and watched the city of Vale and the ocean around it pass far beneath her. "Change teams it is."

* * *

Ozpin smiled from the stage above the student population of Beacon. He loved ringing in the new semester with new students. "May Cinder Fall, Ruby Rose, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black please come forward."

The four students came up onto the stage, but to Ozpin's surprise, Ruby Rose seemed... downcast. He filed that away for further reference. "You four retrieved the Black Knight artifacts, and so have been arranged into team CREaM." Ozpin allowed a lightly cheeky grin to sneak on to his face. "Led by..."

Cinder preened.

"...Ruby Rose!"

Cinder started in shock as she heard Ozpin announce their leader. Next to her, Ruby's head dropped even more. "Someone... please kill me."

* * *

Ruby was starting to find that she really didn't like this timeline. For example, Yang had mysteriously vanished, under mysterious circumstances. Weiss had basically dropped off the face of the earth a few months ago, though Ruby had a very, very bad feeling about the Ice Witch she had fought towards the beginning. The only person who even seemed to attend Beacon was Blake, believe it or not. She was replacing Yatsuhashi, from Team CFVY.

Ruby shuddered to think what that implied.

Right now she, Neptune, Cinder and Emerald were doing some recon on the White Fang rally that, once upon a time, Blake and Sun had infiltrated, laying prone on a distant rooftop. If the time table held up (and Ruby was sure it would, if only because the universe was funny like that) Mercury and Sun would come flying out of the windows and make a run for it, with Roman hot on their heels in the Atlesian Paladin.

Ruby scanned across the upper windows with Crescent Rose's scope, trying to see what was happening behind the tinted windows. For the eighth time that night, Ruby restrained herself from simply shooting out the window. It was getting to be a near thing.

Ruby scanned the windows again and growled. "Stupid window... blocky stuff."

"Hey, you holding up?"

Ruby had long gotten over her reflexive twitching and jumping whenever Emerald addressed her. Emerald may have been the enemy every other time, but she was still her teammate tonight. "No... I'm not."

Emerald chewed her lips and looked at the windows. "Worried about Sun?" Ruby knew that Emerald wouldn't ask if she was worried about Mercury. Emerald was under no illusions that Ruby cared deeply about any of her teammates, and preferred to work alone.

That said, the way that Emerald said it was almost resigned. If Ruby had been of a slightly more hostile mind, she would have misinterpreted it as accusatory. "I'm worried."

Emerald lightly ribbed Ruby. "He'll be fine. And so will Mercury." The second sentence was said lowly, with resignation. Ruby tried not to kick herself too hard.

Fortunately, a distraction appeared in the form of Sun and Mercury leaping out of the rally, pursued by Roman's Paladin. Ruby hopped to her feet. "That's our cue ladies and gentleman. Let's roll."

* * *

"Yang?"

Ruby felt weak at the knees, almost unstable. The world seemed to be spinning. "Y...Yang?"

Across the wreckage of the Atlesian Paladin, standing squarely where Neo should have been, was Ruby's big sister. "Hey, Rubes!" Yang called cheerfully.

Roman glanced from his bodyguard to Ruby. "So this is your little sister? Hmm... Get me out of here Yang."

Ruby felt the world tilt fully upon it's axis. "Yang... Why?"

Yang didn't stop to chat. She grabbed Roman and launched them both into the air, meeting a Bullhorn that was making a break for the outskirts of the city. Ruby could almost imagine the Weiss was in there as well, with the General...

General Blake Belladonna, of Team CFVY and the White Fang. It was all too much for Ruby. She fainted.

* * *

'Knock, knock.'

"Go away."

Ruby crawled under her bedsheets and shut out the world. She didn't want to go to another debriefing, or talk to her dad on the phone, or be consoled by Ozpin, or anything! "Just... go away..."

The door creaked open. "Ruby?"

"I said leave."

Ruby's bed creaked as Cinder sat down on it. "Ruby, I know-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

Ruby didn't know when she had stood up, but now she was standing on her bed, leering over Cinder. "You don't know who I am or where I've come from. So you can just screw off and leave. Me. BE!" Ruby's Aura kicked in and tossed the room to shambles in a wind.

Cinder, believe it or not, stayed right where she was and stared at Ruby. "Ruby... I know what it's like to feel betrayed. I've lived with that feeling all my life. And if you would sit down, I'll tell you why."

Ruby glared at Cinder, who sighed and decided to speak her piece anyway. "Ruby, when I was younger, I lived in Mountain Glen. My parents had evacuated into the underground, but then... there was an explosion. Grimm flooded the tunnels, and the council of Vale chose to seal the district off from the rest of Vale." Cinder paused, her eyes, if only for a moment, telling of the story, of the horrors she had witnessed in the dark. Cinder closed her eyes and continued.

"I managed to escape, just before the doors closed. My parents went so lucky. I... I knew that they were still alive behind that door, trapped with the Grimm. They..." Cinder clenched her fist. "They called Mountain Glen the worlds largest tomb, but they're lying. It was the world's largest slaughterhouse. When I was old enough to understand what I had lived through, I wanted... I wanted the council, the huntsmen... I wanted Vale to destroyed."

Cinder looked at Ruby, her struggle to control her temper, her anguish, written across her face. "I wanted revenge. Only one thing stopped me. I knew that if I took revenge against Vale, I would just create a hundred, a thousand, maybe a million more children like me."

A moment passed. Ruby slowly sat down next to Cinder, as the older girl collected herself. "Ruby, what I'm trying to say is, people need to do what they think is right. If they don't, then, one day, they'll drive themselves insane. You feel like you've been wronged, like the whole world has been turned against you, but you need to be better than that. To do right is only way for things... to be set right."

For a few minutes, Ruby and Cinder sat next to each other, silent. Ruby pondered what Cinder had said. Cinder hoped she had said it well. Finally, Ruby edged over and wrapped an arm around Cinder. "Cinder... I don't know if you can understand what I'm going to tell you, but I hope that, after all of this is over, I'll meet this side of you again."

Cinder turned a quizzical eye to Ruby. "What... Ruby, we're partners. We'll never need to meet again: we'll be working with each other for years."

Ruby didn't meet Cinder's eye.

* * *

**1.4**

* * *

Weiss Schnee nearly fell down the stairs, with only years of careful refinement and training saving her neck. Her bed was replaced by a long spiraling staircase, the clean moonlight by the soft faux-candlelight of a chandelier. Weiss nearly fell over for the second time in so many seconds as she realize where she was.

She was back at her father's manor. Weiss blinked, before bolting for her room.

* * *

Impossible. Insane. Unthinkable. Inconceivable (though Weiss admitted to herself that wasn't the actual meaning of the word). Somehow, through some incredible method, Weiss had traveled back in time. It was the evening before her departure to Beacon, and Weiss was still trying to wrap her head around her situation.

No one seemed to have noticed her sudden temporal displacement. In fact, she was certain that everything was the same, down to the most minute detail. Even her father's reports on the Atlesian Knights, which had delayed his return to home and prevented him from seeing Weiss off was the same. And if everything was the same, then no one on her team would remember her.

That was the real sticking point for Weiss. Ruby didn't remember all the studying they had done, Yang didn't remember their regular attempts to get Ruby to grow up, and Blake... Weiss wasn't quite sure how she could approach Blake, now that she knew Blake's secret without Blake knowing.

Then again, maybe it was better she changed that. A plan began to form in Weiss' head. She had a second chance: better put it to good use.

* * *

Step one: try to keep Ruby from blowing up her Dust, while also getting Ruby to delay her long enough to cause an interaction with Blake. The problem?

Ruby wasn't there. Ruby wasn't freaking there! Weiss was left resisting the urge to tear her hair out as she shamefully knocked her own luggage over to give herself the excuse to meet with Blake. It irked her to do so, but if it gave her an excuse to see a familiar face, Weiss would take it.

Of course, six months of combat against the Grimm, training, education, and minor hostility that they worked around had improved the relationship between the Schnee Heiress and former White Fang girl. So, when Blake did show up, and then did notice the Schnee Insignia, her response was a very cool, "Isn't this Schnee quarried Dust?"

Weiss, collecting her Dust, nodded cautiously. "Yes, it is. It's Dust." Weiss slipped up then. "Does it matter where it comes from, if it's used to fight Grimm?"

Blake's eyes narrowed, her bow twitching in annoyance. "If you deal with people with blood on their hands, then you're just getting that blood on your own." Blake handed the vial of Dust at Weiss and marched off, the heiress left in shock.

' _Was she always like this?_ '

Weiss quickly collected her baggage and left for the orientation, very much intent on finding Ruby again: she had done it before after all. Instead...

She found Nora. "Hi!"

Weiss, suffice to say, was not happy.

* * *

All searching for Ruby resulted in was Weiss determining the location of Ozpin's secret stash of Dust-laced coffee. Ruby Rose, for all intents and purposes, had vanished from the face of Remnant. It irked and terrified Weiss.

Said terror carried on into the Emerald Forest, where Weiss, along with team JNPR, Yang and Blake, were supposed to be initiated into Beacon. Under any other circumstances this would have been a cakewalk for Weiss, seeing as she had already gone through the Emerald Forest once before. But without Ruby, and with her emotions frayed, Weiss had very rapidly become a little beacon to the emotion tracking Grimm, practically screaming "HERE I AM!"

Hence why, when Weiss finally staggered into the clearing that held the artifacts she and her non-existent teammate were supposed to collect, Weiss was limping, bruised, and Aura depleted. Thankfully, it seemed that Nora and Ren, along with Yang and Blake, had arrived. It didn't take long for them to notice her.

Yang and Ren had her over their arms in moments, carrying her to the ruins that the artifacts were hidden in. "Sweet Dust, you look like you've been through a Grimm's teeth!" Yang exclaimed.

Weiss tried to stifle a groan of pain as Yang and Ren set her on the ground inside the ruins. "I've... I've had worse. And we're going to have worse in a few minutes."

Ren visibly gulped. "What do you mean, worse?"

"...aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" At that moment, Jaune flew into a tree on the perimeter of the clearing.

Weiss pointed at him. "A Deathstalker threw him, and it's coming this way."

Yang and Ren looked at each other. Yang pointed at Nora. "Cut Jaune out of that tree and get him over here, we'll need him. Blake, do you know anything about dressing wounds?"

Blake nodded, already moving to Weiss' side. Yang turned back to Ren. "That grenade launcher Nora's got: is it powerful?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Ren said, pulling both of his machine pistols, Stormflower, from his sleeves. "We're distract it, and try to have Nora pierce the carapace."

"Sounds like a plan," Yang said, at the same time Weiss shouted, "No!"

The Schnee heiress managed to push herself to her feet, Blake helping her stay there. "We can't fight a Deathstalker like that. The only way to pierce the armor is to deliver a directed, sharpened blow to it. Try and force the stinger into it's shell, and then hit it." Weiss knew that it should have been Jaune who had figured that out, but she didn't have the time.

At that moment, time ran out. Pyrrha came charging into the clearing, the Deathstalker right on her heels. Nora dragged Jaune to the ruins, where Ren and Yang were already starting to lay down a suppressive fire, aiming at the stinger. Weiss checked her Dust reserves as they did so. She wasn't low enough to prevent an ice shield, but if push came to shove... and the Nevermore showed up...

The Deathstalker was closing in, so Weiss made an executive decision. Channeling her Aura into Mytenaster, Weiss triggered the Dust reserve inside her sword and aimed it at the Deathstalker. "Everyone, give it everything you've got!" The charge built, released-

-and nearly hit the tall red humanoid that crash landed on the Deathstalker, impaling it through it's armored skull and killing it. The errant blast of ice caught a tree and froze it. Weiss sagged in exhaustion. "Oh Dust..."

The humanoid, a slender thing dressed in black, wearing a Grimm headress and wielding a scythe stood up atop it's dead mount. "Humans... and Faunus... Fear me not... I have come to rid the realms of these monsters. I merely ask-"

"GOD-FUCKING-DAMMIT RUBY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Weiss nearly shrieked. Everyone flinched in surprise as the suddenly furious heiress marched at the woman mounted in the dead scorpion Grimm. "Do you know how long I've been searching for you?"

The Grimm-girl room a step back, almost worried. "I, uh... I don't know who you're talking about. I've never heard of this Ruby person."

Weiss kicked Crescent Rose and pulled Ruby's headdress off. The red clad girl flinched, and smiled sincerely. "Looks like you caught me."

Yang promptly bear-hugged her sister. "Ruby, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be on Patch Island with Dad, or at Signal. What are you doing here, and why are you dressed like that?"

"That's what I want to know." Weiss concurred, interrupting Ruby.

Yang turned to Weiss. "Also, how do you know my sister?"

Ruby tried to speak again, but Weiss cut across her. "What, are you surprised that someone recognized her?"

Yang glared at Weiss. "Yeah. And I don't like it when someone swears at her. So you better have a good reason why."

For a moment, none of the three spoke. Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, Ren and Blake were listening intently. Finally, Weiss threw up her arms in anger. "You know what, screw it! Screw sanity, screw logic, screw it! I know your sister, why, because I'm a time traveler. In fact I've lived this whole day before, and now that it's happening again, I'm trying to set it so that everything happens again, but now, guess what, Ruby's some sort of Grimm killing machine and I'm just left here trying to-" Weiss was abruptly cut off by Ruby covering her mouth.

The red-clad girl gently pulled her hand away from Weiss' mouth. "You too? You're time traveling as well?"

Weiss blinked. "I... yes, I am. What do you mean by 'as well'?"

Ruby didn't answer, but instead engulfed Weiss in an honest, close hug. "Uh... Ruby?"

"Shh. Don't spoil the moment."

Weiss contemplated interrupting. She thought about asking if Ruby really was time traveling herself. She thought about telling Ruby that she shouldn't hug someone she had supposedly only just met. She even thought about reminding Ruby that Yang was right there and getting mixed messages.

But Weiss, having been through perhaps the worst day of her life, was just grateful to have her friend back and hugging her closely. So she shut up and didn't complain, and enjoyed the hug.

* * *

**1.5**

* * *

Ice cream, Ruby had long determined, was the world's greatest creation. Ice cream bought by the Schnee's though...

That ice cream was out of this world. "Weiss, have I ever told you how much I love your money?"

Weiss, having absconded with Ruby to a balcony on one of the higher towers of Beacon Academy, looked up from her ice cream cone. "Well Ruby, you could stand to mention it more often."

Ruby giggled and returned to her delicious, luscious cone of ice cream, the high ocean winds playing with her hood. Sprawled beneath them, Beacon Academy unconsciously went through the motions that Ruby had memorized over the many repeats. The red cloaked girl savored the company she now had though, Weiss being the perfect break from the monotony. "So what do you want to do Weiss?"

Weiss shrugged, rather disconcerted. "I don't know. This is all so new... I don't even know where to begin."

Ruby made a wide, expansive gesture to encompass not just Beacon, but the whole horizon. "The world is your oyster Weiss. You can take any pearl you want!" The wind picked up at that moment and set her cape aflutter, making Ruby look quite dramatic.

Weiss rolled her eyes at the drama. "I don't know. I just... what have you been up to? What do you do with this time traveling business?"

Ruby pursed her lips and thought for a moment. "Hmm... well, originally, I just wanted to be the best Huntress I could be. But after a few loops of this, I just got bored with training. So I decided to goof around. I actually joined up with Roman Torchwick once, just to see what his gang was like."

"WHAT!" Weiss nearly shrieked. "You... You..."

"Oh calm down Weiss. I just got some information on his organization." Ruby's expression fell a little. "You know that team from Haven? The one with the guy shoot boots, and the green haired girl?" Ruby continued at Weiss' nod. "Well, the girl with the golden eyes and the mini dress is the actual leader behind all of this."

"Bullshit," Weiss snapped, before covering her mouth in shock. "Ruby... that wasn't..." Weiss shook her head and continued. "Are you sure?"

Ruby nodded. "Yep. They're almost always the bad guys."

"Almost?"

Ruby tensed up, remembering a loop she would have much rather forgotten. "Well... Look Weiss, sometimes history isn't always consistent. It can change every now and again. And I've only been through thirty seven of these repeats, so I'm not sure what'll be true. But I can tell you they are almost certainly the bad guys."

"Right..." Weiss muttered, not sure how to take the revelation. For a moment, the teammates were silent. "So... thirty seven repeats. Over a six month period. You're... thirty three now. Thirty four?"

Ruby nodded a little. "Yeah. Now I'm the older sister!" she said happily. Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby's enthusiasm. "And besides Weiss, didn't you always want a big sister?"

Weiss smiled a little at that though. "Yeah. Maybe I did." Weiss finished her ice cream and chomped on the cone. "Alright Ruby, shall we begin?"

Ruby tossed up her arms. "Yay!" Her ice cream, unfortunately, went flying. A few moments later? It landed on Glynda Goodwitch's head, all the way down at ground level. Weiss and Ruby shared a look, before turning and running.

Time loops or not, neither of them were taking responsibility for that.

* * *

**1.6**

* * *

"Ruby."

"Yes Weiss?"

"Why are Yang and Blake dating?"

Ruby and Weiss were laying on Ruby's bed, shifting though a catalog of weapons parts and painting their toenails (it was a compromise, since it turned out that they could in fact do both at the same time). Ruby mulled the question over. "Hmm... I don't know. I guess it's just cause they're perfect for each other."

Weiss had been honestly surprised when Yang had announced that she and Blake were dating. It wasn't inconceivable, seeing as the two regularly pulled off death defying stunts while fighting the Grimm. In all honestly, Weiss wouldn't have been surprised if it happened more often. Thing was though...

"So why are Pyrrha and Jaune dating?"

"I don't know. Teacher student stuff? Pyrrha sure is fond of Jaune."

"Mm hmm. And what about Ren and Nora?"

"Childhood friends with deep seated, but repressed romantic feelings towards one another, that Beacon has forced them to unrepress." Ruby pursed her lips as she wondered if she had said something grammatically correct. Another, errant thought came to the forefront though. "Huh. We sure do know a lot of people who are dating."

Weiss nodded. "Yes. Jaune  _and_ Pyrrha. Ren  _and_  Nora. Blake  _and_  Yang." Weiss' stress on the words earned her a confused look from Ruby.

The girl with the red toenails and the part numbers for several blade sets edge closer to Weiss, conspiratorial. She narrowed her eyes and, after glancing around to see if there was anyone listening in, whispered, "What are you getting at Weiss?"

Weiss, being by far much more serious than Ruby, deadpanned her response. "Ruby, they're all teammates. Teammates. What are we?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh my Dust... we've stumbled upon a secret shipper plot!"

"No!" Weiss nearly shouted. "Ruby, everyone's been paired up, so where does that put our relationship?"

Ruby, more cheeky than anything, shrugged. "We're friends. Partners. And that's about it."

Weiss frowned. "Are you sure that's all we are? In your heart, is that all you want to be?"

Ruby, more than a little thrown by Weiss' earnestness, paused to choose her next words carefully. "Well... I mean, yes. Weiss, you're my friend, and I'm straight. That's really... that's the end of the conversation."

For a moment, the conversation was in suspension, as Weiss mulled Ruby's words over, before delivering her verdict. "Oh, Thank DUST. Ruby, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that from you." Weiss cracked a light smile. "At least now I don't need to worry about turning you down and breaking your heart."

Ruby smiled and threw an arm around Weiss. "Ruby and Weiss, best buds forever."

Weiss smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

Meanwhile, inside of Ozpin's office...

"NOOOOOOO!"

Glynda cocked an eyebrow at her boss. "Ozpin, what're you doing?"

Ozpin, teary eyes turned his computer screen around to show Glynda. A recording of Weiss and Ruby's conversation was playing. "My OTP square... My matchmaking square is ruined*!"

Glynda pursed her lips. "Ozpin... you're trying to romantically pair teenagers. Don't you think that's a little creepy."

Ozpin, drowning his sorrows in coffee, looked at Glynda. "No. Why would it be?"

* * *

**1.7 Dr. Tempo**

* * *

Ruby sighed.

_Yet another repeat._  Weiss remembering things as well did cheer her up, but however, she wanted her sister to remember things as well.

Yang showed up right on cue. But oddly enough, Blake was running beside her. Blake had an odd look on her face, while Yang was confused. The incognito Faunus flatly asked, "Explain."

Internally, Ruby pondered. ' _Another one of those odd times things were different? Or maybe...'_

She then cheerfully asked, "Explain what?" Yang then said words that Ruby had wanted to hear for so long.

"Why are we back at the day we started at Beacon Academy? Blake asked me that, and I had no clue. Then we see Weiss, and..."

Aforementioned heiress appeared; however, she was acting more like Ruby, humming a jaunty tune, and was not at all like her usual ice queen self. Ruby facepalmed as she saw this.

_'Should I be flattered, amused or insulted?_ '

Ruby walked over to Weiss, saying, "Yang and Blake remember now!"

Blake again asked, "Remember what?"

Weiss frowned. "And I was enjoying being carefree this time..."

* * *

After the explanation, Yang said, "So sis...for some reason, which you have no idea of, time's rewinding again and again?"

With a nod, Ruby chuckled. "Yep! I don't know why, but I'm trying to enjoy it! At least we're all here in this!"

Blake frowned. "At least I'll have time enough at last for some books." The four laughed. Finally, Team RWBY were in this strangeness together...

* * *

**1.8 Seeker 213**

* * *

"Ruby? Ugh... I mean Garnet, why are we boys this time?" Weiss, currently Wei Schnee asked to her... his also gender-bent partner

"I don't know Weis... W-w-wei, but look on the bright side!" Garnet exclaimed, while Wei stared at him incredulously. "We aren't the only ones affected by this! H-h-hehehe" he pointed out, causing Wei to take an exasperated sigh, as they approached Garnet's brother Yoshi, and his partner Ebon.

* * *

**1.9 fantasyPhysicist**

* * *

Pyrrha stared at the Deathstalker's stinger. It was hanging ominously in the darkness, just as it had the first time. She contemplated possible courses of action for a moment. She could let everything happen the way it did originally, and end up letting it loose and taking ages to finally kill it...

...or she could just kill it now.

She grabbed the stinger and swung up and over it, spearing the Deathstalker's tail and severing the nerves, thus paralyzing it. She grabbed the stinger again and swung downward, impaling the Deathstalker in the head with the stinger. She jumped down and brushed herself off, walking toward the entrance of the cave.

Jaune stared in stunned, silent awe.

* * *

Pyrrha watched the duel going on in front of her with a small mixture of apprehension and confusion. The entire time travel situation had caused quite enough confusion on its own, but the duel between Jaune and Cardin going on at the moment was just adding to that. Though she disliked admitting it, the first time, Jaune had been an incompetent fighter this early on. This time, however, was proving to be a much different case. She watched the duel intently, observing Jaune's style. He was fighting  _exactly_  the way she had taught him.

Jaune took a few steps away from his opponent to catch his breath. This most certainly would not go down like it did the first time. ' _Let's see...what did I do wrong the first time..._ ' He shifted his stance so that his right foot was roughly a foot and a half behind his left, and at a 45 degree angle. He raised his shield, and pointed Crocea Mors at Cardin so that the tip was threatening him. Just like he trained.

Cardin noticed this, and smirked. "Uh oh, looks like Jauney Boy's going full power," he mocked. Jaune didn't respond, except to make sure his feet were properly planted. Cardin lunged forward and put what Jaune could tell was  _far_  too much force into a swing of his mace. Jaune easily sidestepped it, and threw a quick cut at Cardin with his sword.

Cardin brought up his mace just in time to block it, and even then, the blade nearly hit his hand. With a grunt of frustration, he swung the mace again, knocking Jaune's shield away from him and onto the floor. He swung it again, and Jaune raised his sword. The two weapons locked, and Cardin taunted him. "This is the part where you lose."

Jaune held the bind for a moment more, then twisted his sword sideways so that the mace slid off the blade and embedded itself in the floor. He snapped the blade forward in a cut aimed for Cardin's neck. It stopped just short, and Cardin's Aura instantly drained to the red zone.

"Check the script; that's my line now," Jaune replied breathily. The time travel thing had reset his body to the same condition it was at the beginning, and the fight had been just as demanding as the first time.

The lights flickered on and the buzzer rang. Glynda stepped onstage looking somewhat surprised. Cardin, meanwhile, was furious. Glynda's voice echoed through the room. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Winchester's Aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Cardin is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match."

Cardin took a step back, visibly enraged. "You'll regret this, punk," he muttered wrathfully, stepping off the stage.

Jaune just stared at him. ' _Jeez, he looks mad_.' He shrugged. ' _Eh. Serves him right._ ' He turned back to the crowd, where Pyrrha was staring at him, looking both proud and suspicious. Jaune stepped off the stage and walked toward his team. The bell rang, and everyone began to file out of the room.

"Jaune," Pyrrha began. "We need to talk."

"About...?" Jaune asked, attempting and failing to hide his nervousness.

"Later," Pyrra replied vaguely. Jaune shrugged and kept walking. He honestly was not sure what to expect.

* * *

Teams JNPR and RWBY sat at a lunch table, chatting about various things. Nora was telling the exaggerated tale of her dream, with Ren translating it into the actual thing, just like Jaune remembered it happening the first time.

Pyrrha leaned over to Jaune and whispered in his ear. "Have you traveled through time as well?"

Jaune looked at her in amazement. "You too?" She nodded. "How'd you know?"

"That was certainly not the way you fought Cardin the first time," she answered, smiling. Then, with seemingly no context, Ruby leaned over to them both and whispered in their ears.

"Hey, I overheard you guys talking," she told them under her breath.

"Before you say we're both crazy-" Jaune began. Ruby interrupted him.

"I wasn't gonna say you're crazy. I was gonna say you're not the only ones."

Jaune and Pyrrha both blinked. "What?"

"Me and the others have been time travelling too," Ruby said, pointing to the other members of Team RWBY. "It's been happening for a while. I'll explain more later." She leaned away for a second, then leaned back. "Welcome to the repeats!" she added, then settled back into her seat.

The members of JNPR had no words.

* * *

**1.10**

* * *

Amongst the six people at Beacon who were aware of the time traveling, it was broadly considered that they had certain responsibilities. The protection of their teammates, the education of their friends...

...not interfering with their improbable love lives...

...but when it came down to it, there were some permissible actions. One example was Ruby's innate, almost obsessive knowledge of everyone's weapons. She could reproduce their weapons on command. Another was the fact that Weiss, traveling or not, was the group's unofficial piggy bank. And it was agreed upon that, at any point, the group could challenge Pyrrha to a duel.

It was under this assumption that Jaune had decided that using a little gift he had acquired inside of this repeat was allowed. Unfortunately, it turned out he had severely under-estimated his skills. Hence why he had requested that Ruby come to JNPR's dorm.

Ruby stared slack jawed at what she saw before her. She turned to Jaune, incredulous. "...How?"

Jaune winced. "Well... you see... you know I have six sisters, right. They made me give them..."

Around the room, the other members of team JNPR were lost within sublime bliss. Nora and Pyrrha had been reduced to little more than cooing puddles of femininity. Ren, on the other hand, was reduced to a cooing puddle of masculinity. They were lost in pleasure.

"...back rubs..."

Ruby nodded after a second. "You did this... WITH BACK MASSAGES?"

Jaune shrugged, very embarrassed. "Yeah..."

* * *

It was later declared that Jaune would never give back massages again. It was soon amended to permit Pyrrha alone to experience Jaune's back massages. Everyone agreed that worked out.

* * *

**1.11 fantasyPhysicist**

* * *

"Ruby."

"Yes, Weiss?"

"What happened to the moon?"

Ruby shrugged. "It bothered me that only half the moon was destroyed and the other half wasn't, so I destroyed the other half."

"WHAT?  _HOW?!_ " Weiss screeched.

" _Mega_  War Corgis. Lots of them." Ruby grinned.

"...do I even want to know?"

Ruby shook her head, still grinning. "Nope."

* * *

**1.12 fantasyPhysicist**

* * *

"Ruby...how did you do this?" Yang asked, looking at the pile of unconscious White Fang grunts behind Ruby. "You didn't have Crescent Rose with you."

In response, Ruby rolled up her sleeves, revealing two gun barrels. She then lifted one foot to show the bottom of her boot, which had a small gun barrel in it, then did the same with the other foot. She also pulled a small pistol out of the pouch on her belt. "Easy! I always keep at least five guns on me at all times. Just like any sensible person should."

* * *

**1.13 fantasyPhysicist**

* * *

"Don't worry, Ruby!" Penny exclaimed. "I am combat ready!" She was hopping up and down at what looked like very unhealthy speeds, and she was shaking and jittering like she had just been given the equivalent of eighteen cups of coffee.

Which, not coincidentally, was the case.

Penny's signature array of blades appeared, and the tips of them opened, forming a massive green ball of light. The light transformed into a laser, and carved the Bullheads floating in the sky above them in half. Oh, how the debris flew.

" _Ruby!_ " Blake screeched. "What in Remnant made you think giving Penny coffee was a good idea?"

" _Curiosity!_ "

* * *

**1.14**

* * *

In a small motel on the outskirts of Vale, late into the evening, a teenage girl found herself sitting on a bed, her grenade launching hammer disassembled and spread out across the neatly folded sheets. The confusion set in after five seconds of staring. "Uh... Ren?"

"Yeah Nora!" Ren shouted over the noise of his shower. He had, at the moment, elected to take a shower before bed.

Nora looked at her disassembled Magnhild, and back at the door. "Do you have my firing pin again?"

"No Nora," Ren shouted. The shower turned off. After a moment, Ren, towel-clad and steaming, leaned out of the door. "Oh, uh... Nora. Are you responsible for... this?"

Nora pursed her lips and thought it over. "No... I think. What is 'this' exactly?"

Ren gestured at the entire room. "The time reversal."

Nora 'hmm'ed' aloud. "Hmm... Nope. Not me."

Ren nodded. "Good. Just making sure." He ducked back into the bathroom to dress. Emerging clothes again, the martial artist toweled off his hair and hopped onto the bed with Nora. "You do remember the next few months, right?"

Nora nodded. "Yup! I remember those big snakes we killed, how badass team RWBY was, Jaune and Pyrrha hooking up. The Nevermore, the Grimm invasion and the White Fang. Blake being a Faunus, Jaune faking his transcripts, CRDL really needing their legs broken... That all?"

Ren thought it over. "Seems like it."

"Yay! Nora happy!" Nora said. Falling over into Ren's lap, she smiled brightly. "We're time travelers: what do you want to do with our big second chance?"

Ren shrugged. "Get better grades."

"What!? Come on Ren, we have this big second chance. Every action reset, every word now repeatable. We can see what we can do, do what we should have done. The world is open to us, the world is our oyster, the world-"

"You can't think of anything either, can you?"

"Nope." Nora sat back up and grabbed the remote. "Wanna watch TV?"

Ren sidled back into the bed's headboard. "Are there any movies on?"

Nora bounced back to Ren's side. "Yup. Let's just see what we can find..."

* * *

_Two days, one initiation, and one very dead bird and scorpion Grimm later..._

* * *

"YOU'RE HERE TOO! YAY!" Ruby was bouncing with joy in the relics ruin. "Blake's going to be so happy to have you guys here! You're totally her OTP."

Ren and Nora shared a confused glance. "We're... her what?"

"Nothing."

* * *

**1.15 fantasyPhysicist**

* * *

Ren sighed. "Nora, would you happen to know why Cardin is in the infirmary?"

"I broke his legs!" Nora replied cheerfully. "What?" she asked, seeing Ren's simultaneously amused and exasperated expression. "You thought I was kidding? He deserved it!"

"I know, Nora. I know," Ren replied, smiling slightly. "How'd you do it without getting caught?"

"I threw his mace at him," she said. "Can't prove it was me if it was done with his own weapon!"

Ren just chuckled.

* * *

**1.16**

* * *

Team RWBY's and JNPR's group study in JNPR's room was interrupted one fine evening by Ruby, who booted down the door and marched in, smiling all the way. "I've got everything we need. Triangle hats, eyepatches, peg legs-"

"None of us are missing legs," Ren observed.

"-hook hands-"

"None of us are missing hands," Blake noted.

"-and I've even tracked down a boat. Everyone get ready, pack up and be prepared to leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow. We ship out in the morn!" Ruby spun in her heel and almost marched back out.

Weiss stopped her. "Ruby, what are you talking about? Where are we going?"

Ruby looked over her shoulder with an absolutely smug and ecstatic look on her face. "Well duh. We're gonna be pirates this time around!"

* * *

Jaune clicked his tongue. "So... this is our pirate ship."

Nora pursed her lips. "I imagined... it would be bigger."

"Or have a Dust engine," Pyrrha mumbled.

"Sails are alright," Ren muttered.

"It was bigger in the photo," Ruby moaned.

"It's a dingy, Ruby," Weiss observed.

"Where's Blake?" Yang asked.

The cat Faunus was not amongst the group assembled in the port of Vale. The seven assembled pirate hopefuls felt their hopes sink further. Hopes that were immediately ignored when a navial corvette running parallel to the dock plowed into Ruby's dingy and sank it.

On the deck, Blake leaned over the railing, grinning like a loon and her bow, for once, off. "You wanna be pirates? First rule: be thieves! Second rule: get on!"

The seven teens shot alongside the corvette, racing along the pier and leaping, launching, and locking themselves onto the ship. Jaune, naturally... could not. "Help!"

Pyrrha magnetized Jaune's armor. Attracted as such, Jaune was dragged by his armor and into the broadside of the corvette. "Ow."

"Sorry!"

The two teams assembled on the deck, various degrees of triumphant. "Hurray for us. Now what?" Yang asked.

Jaune pointed at the task of navial vessels turning after them. "I say, run. Fast."

"Right!" Ruby declared. "Blake, to bridge. Jaune and Ren will accompany you. Pyrrha, you, me and Yang are on the guns. Nora and Weiss, get to the engine room. Get us moving fast. Team RWBY and JNPR! BATTLE STATIONS!"

* * *

It was three days later, or a few weeks earlier depending on your perspective, that team RWBY and JNPR found themselves glaring at Ruby as the school airship made it's way to Beacon, ferrying them to the prestigious school along with all the other first year hopefuls. Ruby looked quite embarrassed. "Alright... I admit, that was my bad. How was I supposed to know that ocean Grimm were so huge... or tentaclely?"

The other time travellers, annoyed, embarrassed, and honestly amused by the mistake, all tried to yell at Ruby. The fact that they were still trying to keep the grins off of their faces undermined the effect quite badly. Finally, they gave up, and laughed it off.

They may have all  _died_ , but it was fun for the three days they had been pirates.

* * *

**1.17 fantasyPhysicist**

* * *

Ruby couldn't resist. Weiss had presented the opportunity this repeat, and she would take it. A small cloud of powdered Dust came out of the vial as Weiss waved it around, and Ruby sneezed.

...And then everything stopped moving. Weiss doubled over laughing, and Ruby became confused. "Weiss?" She blinked, and then the realization hit her. "You have your memories this repeat, don't you?" Weiss nodded.

"I wanted to experiment with Dust combinations to see what kind of results I could get when you sneezed, and this one was  _totally_  worth it," she explained. "I'm surprised more uses haven't been found for Time Dust."

"But wait!" Ruby said, suddenly worried. "Are we gonna be frozen in time forever or something? What if this repeat never ends and we're stuck like this forever?"

Weiss waved a hand. "Don't worry, I made sure to do tests before I did this. It'll wear off in the next thirty seconds or so."

* * *

**1.18**

* * *

"Nora..." Ruby began.

"Yes...?" Nora answered.

"Why are there plushies of me, my team, and your team in our rooms?" Ruby held up the undeniably cute plushie version of Weiss, gifted to her. The rest of Team RWBY and JNPR, unaware of the repeat this go about, were treating the plushies with equal amounts adoration and caution.

Nora waved it off. "But it's such a great gift. Who doesn't want something this cute as a toy?" Nora cuddled her Ren plush.

"Nora, Jaune is treating his as a  _voodoo doll!_  You have to at least tell them that you sent them."

Nora shrugged. "But anonymous gifts are so much better. And besides, they'd think I was weird for gifting them based on who I ship."

Ruby nodded pensively, even if she was a bit annoyed. "Look, I can get shipping Jaune and Pyrrha, and Blake and Yang: I ship them to. But shipping me and Weiss?" Ruby handed the plush to Nora. "Tell them you were the one to send the plushies, now."

Nora pouted. "But Ruby-"

"Tell them, or I tell Ren why you sent him the Nora plushie and kept the Ren plushie."

Nora stood stock still for a moment, before launching of. "Guys, I gotta tell you something!"

Left behind, Ruby sighed. "Ugh... there goes my chance for Green Lightning."

* * *

**1.19**

* * *

Ren cracked his knuckles as Nora babbled about her recurring dream. The Nora sitting next to him wasn't his Nora, at least in the sense that his Nora was time traveling and this Nora wasn't, but she was Nora. A slightly less nutty Nora, but Nora all the same.

Ren honestly wondered if this Nora had feelings for him, before shunting the thought to the back of his mind. It seemed that this go-round, only he and Ruby had their memories, so all he really had to do was keep his team safe.

No easy feat, considering everything that could and often would go wrong. Ren however was up to the task. He was the strongest Huntsmen in the room after all; only Ruby surpassed him. Which really, meant he only had to deal with Nora.

And that was more of a hobby then a chore. "She's been having this dream for weeks now," he deadpanned. "Every night, for the past..." He sighed in mock-exhaustion. "Five. Weeks."

Nora rebuked him around a mouthful of pancakes. She swallowed and said, "It happened, you know it, and you're embarrassed that you didn't think to sell the Beowulf skins."

"You can't sell Beowulf skins," Pyrrha murmured across the table.

Ren finished his eggs and sat up. "I think I'll go to the library to study. Wanna come Nora?"

Nora giggled as she sensed an opening. Ren tensed up, and braced himself as she said the inevitable line. "Oh Ren, I always want to come because of you."

"So close yet so far," Ren muttered under his breath, Nora missing out entirely. "I'll meet you in the library, alright Nora?"

Nora skipped off. "See you soon Ren!"

Ren, despite himself, smiled. "Well, at least she's anything but predictable."

* * *

**1.20 masterOfGames & Wildrook**

* * *

She knew dozens of complex ways to combine dust for various effects, and understood how and why each one worked, all by working it out herself during free periods over the past few subjective decades.

She understood asthetics and social atmosphere so well that doilies and fog machines making for a pleasant but odd event, had become a full formal ballroom rave that had both Yang's father and her own lamenting over not having been able to land an invitation.

Weiss even understood her schoolwork, to the point that she was already halfway finished with the first rough draft of her thesis paper on Grimm Biology.

At this moment, Weiss was unsure she would EVER understand what went through her team leader's head.

"Is that Torchwick's hat?"

"Yep!"

"Why do you have Torchwick's hat?"

"Because I took Torchwick's hat, duh."

"Why are you WEARING Torchwick's hat!?"

"Because I look good in Torchwick's hat, and it goes well with his cane. I would think you of all people would know that."

"You have Torchwick's CANE!?"

"Yeah. He's not complaining about it anyway. I've taken it up as a hobby."

"I get bored."

"Was there a novel cosplay session that I didn't know about?" Blake asked the two. "You look like Alexander deLarge from A Clockwork Orange, Ruby."

* * *

**1.21**

* * *

Ruby Rose smiled as she Woke up, and nearly hugged her mugger. "I'm back! I'm back!"

"What are you-"

Less than a nano-second later, Roman and his rent-a-henchmen found themselves out in the middle of the desert. Roman opened his mouth, closed it, and began wondering who he would first use as an alternative source of food.

Ruby returned to Vale in a flash of red light and gold lightning, skidding to a halt. "Oh this is so cool! I can't wait to-"

Ping. Ping. Ping. Pingpingping. Ping.

Ruby's jaw dropped. "No way... No freaking way!" Ruby shot off into the horizon, moving at super speed to grab up her friends. In barely a few seconds, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren were all standing in a park in the middle of Vale. Ruby came to a halt in front of them. "Please, tell me you're all...  _Awake_."

For a few seconds, the eight loopers of Remnant stared at Ruby. Then Pyrrha gently nodded. "We're here Ruby. JNPR, and I'll bet, your team, have are all looping." Pyrrha smiled gently and looked around. "So... Yay. We know what's happening."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Well, here I was prepared to lord over you with my superior knowledge."

"Yay for us," an utterly exhausted Blake mumbled.

"Why are down in the dumps?" Yang asked.

"Well... Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, and their idiocy." Blake sighed and sat herself on a bench. Every was staring at her, eager to hear her tale. Blake got the hint. "It all started when I Woke in Konoha Gakure no Sato..."

* * *

**A/N: These are the mechanics of the loops:**

**One person in a Loop, often the main character, is an Anchor. They are the person who first starts time looping.**

**There is always at least one Anchor present in a given Time Loop snippet, though it may not be the local one.**

**The standard pattern for a loop is that the Anchor (and whoever else is Looping there) come to awareness in a loop at a particular point in the story. From there, events will play out as influenced by the Loopers present, acting with the benefit of their foreknowledge, until either a predetermined end point is reached or all the Loopers have copped it.**

**To be Awake is to be aware of the time loops (that is, to have gone back in time this time.)**

**The Anchor is the only character guaranteed to be Awake. Even after others have started looping, it is mostly random as to whether they will be Awake this particular loop.**

**Crossovers, fusions, and alternate pasts can also take place. It is perfectly possible, for example, to have the characters Awaken into a loop which conforms to a fanfic universe rather than reality.**

**Loops do not have to be in chronological order, but it is strongly preferred that they not require a mutually contradictory order (where A must be before B and B must be before A.)**

**Just about every Looper is very, very stir crazy.**

* * *

**And now, for the guaranteed fun part of all loops: Snarky commentary!**

**1.1: Enter, Miss Ruby Rose... and die quickly.**

**1.2: A bit of de-stressing from the dying bit.**

**1.3: And now some more stressing!**

**1.4: Enter, Miss Weiss Schnee... and get your ass handed to you.**

**1.5: I want that Ice Cream.**

**1.6: Shipping wars... They have begun!**

**1.7: And enter Miss Yang Xiao Long and Miss Blake Belladonna... and... be okay. Okay.**

**1.8: Gender-bending! Team GWEY!**

**1.9: Enter Miss Pyrrha Nikos and Mister Jaune Arc... and kick ass!**

**1.10: Massages. I blame that.**

**1.11: Mega Zords... War Corgi's... they're all the same**

**1.12: Be prepared: the girl scout motto!**

**1.13: Ruby has doomed them all.**

**1.14: And enter Mister Lie Ren and Miss Nora Valkyrie... and don't be a couple.**

**1.15: They'll break his legs!**

**1.16: This message approved by Jack Spar- CAPTAIN!... Captain Jack Sparrow.**

**1.17: Time traveling, time stopping, it's all good.**

**1.18: Plushies... not Plashes.**

**1.19: And they are** _**not** _ **a couple!**

**1.20: Cosplays, both inside and outside RWBY.**

**1.21: And so conclude the first chapter of the RWBY Loops. But what lies beyond, in the greater multiverse...**

* * *

**This story is dedicated in the memory of Monty Oum. His work _is_  his immortality.**


End file.
